MARION – In drag racing, the driver who crosses the finish line first wins the race, no matter how fast the two cars are traveling across the finish line.

Friday night at the IHRA San Antonio Nitro Jam at San Antonio Raceway, Kyle Wurtzel found that out the hard way when his boss, teammate and car owner Bruce Litton won on a holeshot over him in his Nitro Jam Top Fuel dragster.

Wurtzel, who defeated Litton in the first round, actually had a faster elapse time in the final round when he tripped the clock at 4.913, 278.29 mph.

Litton crossed in 4.914, 283.02 mph and won on a holeshot by a couple hundredths when his car tripped the beam light first.

In the opening round Wurtzel scored the victory over Litton. Wurtzel crossed the finish line in 5.250 seconds at 198.15 mph. Litton got off the throttle early and was clocked at 6.558 seconds, 135.50 mph.

“We had a few issues in round one, but we figured it out and had a great race against Kyle,” Litton said. “We were side-by-side the length of the track and it was very close at the line. That was a very exciting race and we were glad to take the win.”

The two drivers will square off again on Saturday night beginning at 7 p.m. The Nitro Jam will feature two more rounds of Nitro action, along with jet dragsters, jet funny cars and the “Super Shockwave” jet truck.

In the AMSOIL Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car class, Mark Sanders topped Peter Gallen in the final round to score an Ironman trophy.

Sanders, driving the Mr. Explosive 1970 Mustang blasted across the finish line with a 5.952, 239.23 mph pass. Earlier in the evening he posted his best pass of the night with a 5.800, 250.98 mph run.

In the final round, Gallen’s car shook the tires and he was forced to shut it down. He crossed the line in 18.035, 56.51 mph.

“Boy what a win for the ‘Mr. Explosive’ team,” Sanders said. “This car has been on a rail since Jake (Sanders) put this sucker back together last year and now here we are putting down some awesome laps and to do it against such a great team as Pete has, all I have to say is wow. What a win, we will be celebrating with all of the great fans in San Antonio tonight.”

In the consolation round Texas’s John Hale powered past Greg Jacobsmeyer to take the win in a great side-by-side drag race. Hale posted a 6.166, 235.11 mph run to Hale’s 6.174, 233.40 mph pass.

In the AMSOIL Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car class, Mark Sanders topped Peter Gallen in the final round to score an Ironman trophy at Friday's IHRA Nitro Jam at San Antonio Raceway. (IHRA photo)

In the Nitro Harley division Jay Turner and Tracy Kile squared off in head-to-head battle on the quarter-mile track.

In the opening round Turner and Kile posted two stellar passes. Turner nosed Kile at the line when he was clocked at 6.429, 216.45 mph. Kile crossed in 6.473 at 219.73 mph.

In the final round both drivers laid down a great side-by-side run. Turner left the line first with a .036 reaction time and was also first across the line with a 6.552, 198.94 mph pass to Kile’s 6.489, 211.27 mph run. Kile had a faster elapse time but Turner got the win on a holesot. The margin of victory was .00073 seconds.

In the Fuel Altred division, Ron Hope won easily over Kyle Hough in the final round. Hope had a big advantage off the starting line but both cars started spinning the tires early in the run. The pass ended up being a pedal fest to the finish line with Hope crossing first at 9.578 at 142.27 mph.

In the opening round Hough laid down an impressive pass and was clock at 6.924 at 210.77 mph to Hope’s 9.649, 121.26 mph run.

Ron Hope does a burnout on the starting line prior to making a run in his Nitro Fuel Altred race car Friday at the IHRA Nitro Jam at San Antonio Raceway. (IHRA photo)

The Nitro Jam also featured several exhibition runs starting with a wheelstander, followed by jet cars, jet trains and the ” Super Shockwave” jet truck.

Richard Hutchins, driving the Chevy Rebellion wheelstander, made two great runs down the track on his back wheels. His first pass was clocked at 10.204 @ 122.05 mph. On the second run he posted a time of 9.859 @ 133.89 mph in his VW Truck.

In the battle of the jet funny cars, Richard Hannah and Ken Hall thrilled the crowd with two impressive four-second passes in the first round. Hannah posted a 4.055, 199.20 mph pass and narrowly clipped Hall at the finish when Hall crossed at 4.066, 201.07 mph.

Hall redeemed himself in the final round and edged Hanna with a 5.867, 272.56 mph run to Hanna’s 5.875, 269.46 mph pass. The margin of victory was four thousandths of a second at the line.

The Nitro Jam also featured two great side-by-side battles between two jet trains called the Cannonball Express driven by K.J. Jones and the Chattanooga Choo-Choo driven by Paul Kelley.

Jones grabbed the victory twice in his Cannonball Express. In the first round he posted a 6.738, 234.13 mph run to Kelley’s 7.031 at 224.44 mph pass.

Jones was first across the line in the final round after running 7.123 at 195.42 mph. Kelley was slower on his second pass and was clocked at 9.327, 215.93 mph.

Les Shockley in his Super Shockwave Jet Truck lit up the night sky in the finale event. The ground-pounded truck rocketed down the track in 7.774, 209.59 mph. When the truck cross the line fireworks and fire erupted from the sides of the track.

Shockley’s run in the opening round was a little better after being clocked at 7.317, 209.59 mph. He nailed the tree off the line with a 0.0001 light.

SAN ANTONIO — Friday’s final results from the IHRA San Antonio Nitro Jam presented by CarSafe & Good Vibrations Motorsports Day One at San Antonio Raceway. The race is the second of eight in the 2013 Nitro Jam Series:

SAN ANTONIO — Final round-by-round results from the IHRA San Antonio Nitro Jam presented by CarSafe & Good Vibrations Motorsports Day One at San Antonio Raceway, the second of eight events in the 2013 Nitro Jam Series: